Following his enlistment into Marvel’s Avengers as the deadly marksman, Hawkeye, Jeremy Renner continues his action-packed summer, starring as Aaron Cross in the latest entry into The Bourne Saga. The fourth instalment in the series, The Bourne Legacy, solidifies the fact that when it comes to government bred super-soldiers “There was never just one”. Interweaving the film’s events amongst the fallout of Jason Bourne’s uncovering of ‘Operation Treadstone’ in The Bourne Ultimatum, Cross must fight for his survival when CIA agent, Byer (Edward Norton) decides to shut up shop in the most lethal of manners – methodically eradicating all evidence of the clandestine experiment. Rising to prominence in Kathryn Bigelow’s relentlessly tense The Hurt Locker and earning an Oscar nomination for his role in Ben Affleck’s trigger-happy heist drama The Town, Renner’s action-hero credentials cannot be called into doubt, but following three films focusing upon Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne, can Renner fill his shoes and leave just as impressive of a footprint upon the landscape of contemporary action-thrillers?..

This feature was originally published in Big Screen and Movie Magic magazine. Continue reading here